Detecting and reporting on consumption rate changes

ABSTRACT

A method, system and computer readable storage medium for reporting on a measured change in a consumption rate. Media consumption histories for a plurality of entities are received. A monitored audience is selected from the plurality of entities by selecting entities which have completed an online purchase. A category value for each of two or more categories of media content is determined. One category of media content includes one or more items of media content. One category value represents the measured change in consumption rate for one category of media content for the monitored audience between at least two time intervals. One consumption rate is determined based on the number of times each item of media content in the one category has been delivered over a network during one time interval. A report including a reference to two or more categories and their associated category values is generated.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/692,042 filed on Dec. 3, 2012 by Sutter et al., entitled “Detectingand Reporting on Consumption Rate Changes” which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/829,643 filed on Jul. 2, 2010 bySutter et al., entitled “Detecting and Reporting on Consumption RateChanges”, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,386,601 issued on Feb. 26, 2013, whichclaims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/224,841 filedon Jul. 10, 2009 by Sutter et al., entitled “Tracking Networked MediaContent Consumption”, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates to detecting and reporting changes to networkedmedia content consumption rates.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Search Engine Operators index networked media content such as websitesand/or online videos using a variety of methods. In some cases, newnetworked media content, such as an online article reporting on currentnews events, might not be indexed immediately resulting in delayedinclusion in online search results. In other cases, important changes inconsumption behavior, audience size and/or audience profile for anetworked media content provider, such as a website may have lowvisibility.

What is needed is a system and method for reporting on changes innetworked media content consumption rates and patterns.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention provide a computer-implemented method ofmedia content consumption reporting. Media consumption histories for aplurality of entities are received. A reporting system analyzes themedia consumption histories. Media content which experienced a change inconsumption rate between at least two time intervals is selected. Areport including a reference to the selected media content is provided.

An embodiment of the invention provides a computer-implemented method ofmedia content consumption reporting. Media consumption histories for aplurality of entities are received. At least one media consumptioncriterion including a consumption event describing exposure toadvertising content is identified and a monitored audience of entitiesis selected from the plurality of entities by selecting entities with amedia consumption history satisfying the media consumption criterion.The media consumption histories of the monitored audience are analyzedto identify selected media content, such as a web page, with a detectedchange in consumption rate by the monitored audience between two timeintervals. A report including a reference to the selected media contentis provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a hardware environment forimplementing the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method for reportingchanges to media consumption rates according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a high-level block diagram illustrating an example of acomputer for use as an entity, external database, search engine indexingsystem, search engine system and/or reporting system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 400 forproviding a consumption rate change report for a monitored audience,according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 500 forproviding a consumption rate change report for a monitored audiencewhich is similar to an archetypical audience, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 600 forsearch-engine indexing, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example report;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example report;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example report; and

FIG. 10 illustrates an example report.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computing environment in accordance withan embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the computing environment includes areporting system 100, at least one networked media content provider 128,at least one entity 132 and a receiving system 160. These elements areconnected by a communication network 150, such as a local area network,a wide area network, a wireless network, an intranet, a cable network, asatellite network, a cellular phone network, an optical network, theInternet or combinations thereof.

Networked media content provider 128 provides media content 129 over thecommunication network 150 to entity 132. Examples of networked mediacontent provider 128 can include web site operators and cable televisionoperators. Examples of media content 130 can include, but are notlimited to, a webpage, a portion of an online video clip, a portion of anetworked television program, an online advertising exposure, a portionof a cable television program, a portion of a satellite televisionprogram, a portion of an Internet Protocol (IP) television program, aportion of an online audio clip, advertising content and interfaces formaking online purchases and/or combinations thereof. In some examples,the media content 130 can be provided based on a request to thenetworked media content provider 128; in some examples, the networkedmedia content provider 128 can push the media content 130. Although onlyone networked media content provider 128 is shown in FIG. 1 for clarity,any number of networked media content providers in any number of domainsmay be connected to the communication network 150.

In various embodiments, entity 132 receives media content 130 fromnetworked media content provider 128 over the communication network 150.Examples of entities can include consumers, software installations orhardware devices used to access media content over a network orcombinations thereof. A consumer is a person or group of people whoaccess media content over a network. Software installations can includea web browser instance, video viewer instance or set-top box softwareresiding on a hardware device. A hardware device can comprise acomputer, personal digital assistant (PDA), cell phone or set-top unit(STU) such as a STU used in conjunction with cable television service.In some cases, an entity 132 can comprise a combination of entitieswhich are logically grouped together to represent individuals,households or groups of individuals who access media content over acommunication network. Although only one entity 132 is shown in FIG. 1for clarity, any number of entities may be connected to thecommunication network 150.

As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, entity 132 contains identifier133. Identifier 133 can be used to identify the entity 132. For example,a hardware device identifier such as a Media Access Control Address (MACaddress) can be stored on a device. A software identifier such as acookie value can be stored locally. In another embodiment, identifiersused to identify entities can be composed and/or stored remotely from anentity.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a hardware environment forimplementing the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the hardwareenvironment includes a reporting system 100. The reporting system 100can be coupled to the communication network 150 and can execute anoperating system. The reporting system 100 can run software such assoftware modules direct measurement system 124, data repository 126,scheduler module 108, generator module 110 and export module 112.

In an embodiment, direct measurement system 124 collects and/or receivesinformation for an entity 132 in conjunction with an identifier 133. Forexample, a direct measurement system 124 can collect informationassociated with entities 132 such as individual Internet browserinstallations used to browse the Internet. When an entity 132 requestscontent from a networked media content provider 128, such as a requestfrom a web browser operating on a personal computer to display thecontent of a web page of an online publisher, the networked mediacontent provider 128 can re-direct the entity 132 to submit a pixelrequest to the direct measurement system 124. Based on the pixelrequest, and optional subsequent actions and/or interactions, the directmeasurement system 124 can collect and/or receive information from theentity 132 and/or information associated with the entity 132.Information is collected and/or received in conjunction with anidentifier in order to maintain a coherent body of information for anentity over time. The identifier can comprise identifier 133 stored onthe entity and/or an identifier stored and/or composed remotely from theentity.

Information can include a media consumption history for an entity 132,such as records of media content consumption events and attributevalues. In some cases, the context of media content consumption event,such as the duration and/or quality of the consumption event, can bepart of the media consumption history. For example, informationassociated with the hardware and/or software volume settings during thedelivery of an audio advertisement can be collected and become part ofthe media consumption history. In some cases, the media consumptionhistory associated with an entity 132 can be associated with actionsand/or interactions with the networked media content such as bookmarkingand/or copying a portion of the media content. For an entity that is aphysical device, information can describe a hardware and/or softwareconfiguration.

Attribute values can comprise known, collected, received,cross-referenced, inferred, estimated, processed and/or calculatedinformation related to an entity 132 which is not part of a mediaconsumption history. The estimated household size associated with anentity 132 and the average household income for the zip code associatedwith an entity 132 are examples of attribute values. In some cases,attribute values can be assessed or described using probabilities. Forexample, an attribute value can reflect that there is a 90% chance thatthe household income for a family group owning an entity earns between$75,000 and $100,000 per year. In some cases, information can bereceived and processed into a processed attribute value. For example,attribute values can comprise information which has been statisticallyobfuscated to address privacy concerns.

In an embodiment, information collected and/or received by the directmeasurement system 124 is stored in data repository 126. In some cases,information collected and/or received by the direct measurement system124 can be processed before it is stored in data repository 126.Advantageously, a sudden increase in the consumption rate of mediacontent 130 over a network 150 can indicate the emergence of a populartrend or news story. A change in a consumption rate, such as a decreasein a consumption rate to zero or near zero, can indicate broken linksand/or an expired web page.

In an embodiment, reporting system 100 analyzes media consumptionhistories, such as the information in the data repository 126, toidentify selected media content for reporting based at least in part onmeasured changes in a media content consumption rate between at leasttwo time intervals.

Reporting system 100 comprises a generator module 110 for detectingand/or calculating changes to networked media content consumption ratesby accessing and analyzing the media consumption histories for aplurality of entities, such as entity 132, from data repository 126. Amedia content consumption rate is measured over a time interval. Forexample, the number of entities which have downloaded selected content,such as a specific video, can be counted over a time interval such as anhour. The resulting content consumption rate can be represented inconsumption events per time interval (900 downloads per hour);alternately, content consumption rates can be represented in averageconsumption events per unit time (900 downloads measured in one hour canbe represented as an average of 15 downloads/minute). In anotherexample, consumption rates can be represented in terms of the storagesize of the received media content (3 Megabits/minute) and/or eventduration (a 10 minute video displayed in its entirety 1000 times in anhour can be represented as 10,000 video minutes displayed/hour). Achange in media consumption rates can be represented as a change in thetotal number of consumption events per unit of time (or per timeinterval); in another example, a change in media consumption rates canbe represented as a change in the average number of consumption eventsper unit of time (or per time interval), or the percentage change in thenumber of consumption events per unit of time (or per time interval). Inanother example, a change in consumption rate can be represented as achange in consumption rate divided by the time difference between thetwo intervals (consumption events/time²).

In an embodiment, networked media content consumption rates and changesin consumption rates can be calculated based on the delivery of mediacontent 130 to a multiplicity of entities over a network 150 as measuredby a direct measurement system 124. For example, consumption rates, andchanges in consumption rates, can be calculated for unique visits, withduplicate visits from the same entity not included in the calculations.In another example, consumption rates, and changes in consumption rates,can be calculated for total visits, with all visits including duplicatevisits from the same entity included in the calculations.

Consumption rates can be calculated per time interval and expressed as arate for the whole time interval or as an average rate over the timeinterval. For example, for a consumption event such as a website visit,consumption rates can be represented as visits per minute as measuredover a minute, average visits per hour as measured over a day, visitsper weekend as measured over one weekend, average visits per weekend (asmeasured over a month). In another example, consumption rates can bemeasured over non-continuous time intervals such as the average hourlyconsumption rate for weekend mornings.

When detecting and/or calculating changes in consumption rates betweenat least two time intervals, the time intervals may be the same size,such as calculating the change in consumption rate between twoconsecutive Monday evenings. However, in other examples, whencalculating changes in consumption rates between at least two timeintervals, the time intervals are not necessarily the same size, such ascalculating the change in average hourly consumption rate between a twoday weekend and a five day work week.

Consumption rates, from which the consumption rate changes can becalculated, can reflect the overall consumption rate for selected mediacontent, by counting measured consumption events by any entity for theselected media content. In another example, the consumption rate candescribe the consumption rate of a subset of the selected mediacontent's audience of entities for an interval. For example, theconsumption rate can be the consumption rate based on geography (theconsumption rate of entities accessing the selected media content fromLos Angeles) and/or the consumption rate based on a segment of theaudience (the consumption rate of a selected set of entities, theconsumption rate of entities inferred to be between the ages of 18-35).

The consumption rate can describe the consumption rate of a subset ofthe selected media content's audience of entities for an interval, withthe subset described as a list of entities. For example, an advertisermay be interested in monitoring the consumption rate changes for mediacontent for a monitored audience of entities which have a mediaconsumption history satisfying one or more media consumption criteria.Media consumption criteria can describe a networked media contentconsumption event, the context of a networked media content consumptionevent, networked media content and/or an entity. Examples of mediaconsumption criteria are: completed an online purchase, completed anonline registration process, been exposed to a specific set of one ormore online advertisements and/or viewed an online video for at least 5minutes with the volume on. In another example, media consumptioncriteria can comprise information inferred about the entity and/orconsumer such as an inferred demographic profile for an entity. Inanother example, the consumption rate can be represented as the fractionof entities from a selected set of entities which met the mediaconsumption criteria, and the change in consumption rate can indicatethe change in this fraction.

The consumption rate can describe the consumption rate of a subset ofthe selected media content's audience of entities for an interval. Inthis example, each entity in the subset is a member of a list ofentities which are similar to an archetypical audience. For example, anadvertiser may be interested in monitoring the consumption rate changesfor media content for an audience of entities which are similar to aknown or archetypical audience. In this example, the advertiser may makea model, such as a behavioral model, to identify entities which aresimilar to an archetypical audience, and then use the model to select amonitored audience of entities. The system can then analyze the mediaconsumption histories for the entities in the monitored audience todetect and report on consumption rate changes.

In another example, consumption rates and related consumption ratechanges can be calculated for consumption events that meet one or moremedia consumption criteria such as criteria related to the context ofthe consumption event. In an example of media consumption criteriausage, the consumption rate can be calculated for the consumption ofselected media content which was delivered to a personal computer withthe volume set above a minimum volume. In another example, theconsumption rate can be calculated for entities accessing the selectedmedia content using a specific hardware device such as a certain cellphone model.

In another example, a consumption event can be a compound consumptionevent. Consumption rates and/or consumption rate changes can becalculated for events comprising multiple consumption events. Forexample, the consumption rate can be calculated for the compoundconsumption event comprising a first event, such as viewing a specificshoe sale webpage, and a second event, such as adding an item to anonline shopping cart and receiving a pop-up window asking “Check out nowor continue Shopping?” In this case, the selected media contentcomprises the specific shoe sale webpage and the pop-up window, takentogether. In another example, a compound consumption event can comprisea first event such as receiving an exposure to online advertisingcontent related to insurance and a second event such as requesting moreinformation from an insurance vendor online through the insurancevendor's web interface. In this case, the selected media contentcomprises the advertising content and the insurance vendor's webinterface.

In an example, the consumption rates for media content delivered over anetwork, from which the consumption rate changes can be calculated, canbe standardized. For example, consumption rate can comprise the numberof entities which have received selected media content within the last10 minutes compared to the number of entities which have historicallyreceived the selected media content in an average 10 minute interval asmeasured by the direct tracking system in the last month. In some cases,changes in standardized consumption rates can be used to rapidly detecttrends.

Selected media content can comprise individual items of media content,such as an individual web page, or sets of multiple items of mediacontent, such as all the webpages in a website, a set of web pages fromdifferent domains on the same topic (webpages from different domains,each featuring a news story on the same subject), the set of web pagesin a category of web pages (webpages from different domains providingweather forecast for San Jose), the set of networked video contentfeaturing the same actor (identical or nearly identical previews of anupcoming movie hosted in multiple domains). In some cases, whendetecting and/or calculating the consumption rate (and relatedconsumption rate changes) of compound media content comprising multipleitems of media content, the consumption of any single media content itemin the compound media content counts as consumption of the compoundmedia content.

In some embodiments of the invention, a scheduler module 108 can beconfigured to trigger the generator module 110 to detect and/orcalculate changes in the consumption rate over specified intervals forselected media content. The scheduler module 108 can be manually,automatically, explicitly and/or implicitly configured. For example, thescheduler can be provided with a list of individual and/or compoundmedia content consumption events associated with selected media content.This configuration would be useful for scheduling consumption ratechange calculations used in providing a watch service to externalsystems. In an example, a watch service can comprise monitoring andreporting on specific media content for consumption rate changes and/ormonitoring and reporting on changing consumption rates for specifiedsets of entities or subsets of an audience of entities. Consumptionrates, (such as average site visits per minute measured over a twominute interval) and consumption rate changes (such as the change inconsumption rate for measurements taken 10 minutes apart) can beautomatically calculated for subsequent reporting.

In another example, the scheduler module 108 can be configured totrigger the generator module 110 to detect and/or calculate consumptionrate changes associated with a limited number of networked media contentproviders. For example, the scheduler module 108 can be configured toinitiate calculations related to page requests for a specific web page,set of web pages, website and/or set of websites. For example, a generalconfiguration for seeking popular networked media content based onoverall consumption can be: monitor the data repository 126 for changesin consumption rate for web pages which average more than 10,000 uniquevisits/day, looking at hour over hour consumption rate changes. Ageneral configuration for seeking rapid changes in the popularity of anetworked media content provider based on overall consumption can be:use the scheduler module to initiate calculations which enable thesystem 100 to monitor the data repository 126 for media content withmore than a 25% day over day increase in the number of associated mediacontent consumption events per day.

Export module 112 can provide reports to external systems such asreceiving system 160. Examples of receiving systems include, but are notlimited to, search engine indexing systems, audience selection systemsfor networked advertising, database systems and/or networked marketingsystems. In another example, a receiving system can be an e-mail systemor a web server. For example, a report may be of interest to anadvertising executive and the report can be delivered to a receivingsystem comprising an e-mail system and/or provided to a receiving systemcomprising a web server where the contents may be posted as a web page.

FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 illustrate four example reports(reports 700, 800, 900 and 1000). For example, an export module can pushinformation received from the scheduler module 108, such as reportsincluding changes in media content consumption rates, to a receivingsystem 160 such as a search engine indexing system. A search engineindexing system can use the reports to compute or alter the indexing ofselected media content. For example, a report including informationwhich shows a dramatic increase in the media content consumption ratefor selected media could be used to improve the search rank of theselected media. Similarly, a report including information which shows adramatic decrease in the media content consumption rate for selectedmedia could be used to decrease the search rank of the selected media orportions thereof, as it may indicate waning relevance and/or a brokenlink.

Export module 112 can provide reports using a push paradigm and/orresponsive to requests from external resources. Reports can beindividual, documenting changes for selected content individually, orcompound, documenting changes for multiple selected media content.Reports can be exception reports, documenting a change in consumptionrate for selected media content with a change in media contentconsumption rate that exceeds a predefined threshold, or they can becomprehensive, documenting changes in consumption rate for selectedmedia content regardless of the magnitude of the increase or decrease inconsumption rate. In an example, export module 112 can be configured toprovide reports in response to specific requests. For example, exportmodule 112 can interact with generator module 110 and/or schedulermodule 108 to provide a report responsive to a request from a searchengine indexing system based on consumption rate changes for specifiedmedia content, media content meeting specified criteria and/or mediacontent with consumption rates that meet specified criteria.

In an example, export module 112 can be scheduled to periodically pushreports to one or more receiving systems 160. For example, a receivingsystem 160 such as a search engine indexing system can be a subscriberto a service for receiving a report comprising a list of websites andonline videos which have experienced sudden spikes in traffic. Exportmodule 112 can access the networked media content consumption metricsgenerated by the generator module 110 and identify a list of URLs(Universal Resource Locators) for websites and online videos which meetpredefined criteria. For example, one criterion might be “report onselected content such as webpages and online videos that have just beenidentified in the data repository 126 for the first time.” Byidentifying media content with a change in consumption rate fromnon-existent or undefined (no entries exist in the database referring tothe media content) to a measurable consumption rate, newly added ornewly accessible content can be detected. Another example criterion canbe “report on selected content such as online videos and websites with aminute over minute change in consumption rate of at least 25% asmeasured anytime in the last hour.”

In an example, media content such as a web page containing a new articleon an online newspaper might be of interest if it is identified in thedata repository for the first time and the web page has been provided toentities at a rate exceeding 100 requests in 10 seconds. The exportmodule 112 can send a report such as a list of references to the mediacontent with rapidly changing consumption rates to the subscribingsearch engine system. A reference identifies the media content to therecipient of the report. Examples of possible references for a web pageor website include, but are not limited to, a Uniform Resource Locator(URL), Uniform Resource Indicator (URI), Uniform Resource Name (URN),Namespace Identifier (NID) and/or Namespace Specific String (NSS) and/orcombinations thereof. In another example, addresses, identifiers, namesand/or titles can be used to identify the media content to the recipientof the report.

A search engine system may use the contents of the report to rapidlyindex and/or re-index the webpages in the list. Advantageously, apopular website or online video can be indicated to a search enginesystem very rapidly, so that they can be indexed quickly. In someexamples, when a new website becomes available, the present inventioncan immediately provide that information to a search engine system.Furthermore, in some cases, changes in consumption rates can be providedto the search engine indexing system and the search engine system canprioritize indexing based on the popularity of the new tracked websitebased on the networked media content consumption metrics. Whereas anindividual networked media content provider, such as a web siteoperator, can rapidly determine the popularity of their own webpages bymonitoring their own traffic, the present invention enables a thirdparty system, such as the reporting system 100 to rapidly determinenetworked media content consumption rates and rate changes for networkedmedia content from multiple domains even if the media content is notcontrolled, operated and/or owned by the reporting system 100.Furthermore, a receiving system 160, such as a third party search engineindexing system, can take action, such as re-indexing, based on receivedreports which include information on networked media content consumptionrate changes for networked media content from multiple domains even ifthe media content is not controlled, operated and/or owned by the thirdparty search engine indexing system.

Referring to FIG. 7, example report 700 illustrates a listing of thethree top websites which experienced the greatest increase in mediacontent consumption rate for the measured period. In report 700, themedia content representing all webpages on the designated website isidentified by the URL of the landing page for the website and theconsumption rate change is represented in visitors/hour/hour.

Referring to FIG. 8, example report 800 illustrates a listing of thethree top webpages which experienced the greatest increase in mediacontent consumption rate for the measured period. In report 800, themedia content items are identified by a URL and the consumption ratechange is represented in percentage increase per 3 hour period.

Referring to FIG. 9, example report 900 illustrates a listing of theconsumption rate change for three categories of media content items,with the consumption rate change measured for the monitored audienceover the measured period. In this example, the monitored audience wasselected based on media content consumption history by selectingentities from the data repository which had purchased movie ticketsonline within the last 6 months. In report 900, the categories of mediacontent items are identified by a string. In this example, the stringidentifies a list of media content items which can be looked up at thereporting system 100. The consumption rate change is represented as afactor.

Referring to FIG. 10, example report 1000 illustrates an ordered listingof the top three media content items with the greatest consumption ratechange between two time intervals (8-9 AM on Dec. 25, 2009 to 8-9 AM onJan. 1, 2010), with the consumption rate change measured for a monitoredaudience. The monitored audience was selected from the data repositorybased on similarity to the archetypical audience of entities. In report1000, the media content items are identified by an identifier. In thisexample, the each identifier refers to one media content item which canbe looked up at the reporting system 100. The actual values of theconsumption rate changes are not included in the report.

The direct measurement system 124 and data repository 126 illustrated inFIG. 1 are co-located on the reporting system 100. However, in otherexamples of the invention, the direct measurement system can bepartially or wholly external to the reporting system 100. In anotherexample, the direct measurement system 124 and/or the data repository126 can be distributed across multiple locations, domains, and/orphysical systems.

FIG. 3 is a high-level block diagram illustrating an example of acomputer for use as an entity 132, external database 140, receivingsystem 160, search engine system 162 and/or reporting system 100 ofFIG. 1. Illustrated are a processor 302 coupled to a bus 304. Alsocoupled to the bus 304 are a memory 306, a storage device 308, akeyboard 310, a graphics adapter 312, a pointing device 314, and anetwork adapter 316. A display 318 is coupled to the graphics adapter312.

The processor 302 may be any general-purpose processor. The storagedevice 308 is, in one embodiment, a hard disk drive but can also be anyother device capable of storing data, such as a writeable compact disk(CD) or DVD, or a solid-state memory device. The memory 306 may be, forexample, firmware, read-only memory (ROM), non-volatile random accessmemory (NVRAM), and/or RAM, and holds instructions and data used by theprocessor 302. The pointing device 314 may be a mouse, track ball, orother type of pointing device, and is used in combination with thekeyboard 310 to input data into the computer 300. The graphics adapter312 displays images and other information on the display 318. Thenetwork adapter 316 couples the computer 300 to the network (not shown).In one embodiment, the network is the Internet. The network can alsoutilize dedicated or private communications links that are notnecessarily part of the Internet.

As is known in the art, the computer 300 is adapted to execute computerprogram modules. As used herein, the term “module” refers to computerprogram logic and/or data for providing the specified functionality. Amodule can be implemented in hardware, firmware, and/or software. In oneembodiment, the modules are stored on the storage device 308, loadedinto the memory 306, and executed by the processor 302. The computer 300is configured to perform the specific functions and operations byvarious modules, for example as detailed in FIG. 2, and thereby operatesas a particular computer under such program control. The types ofcomputers 300 utilized by the entities of FIG. 1 can vary depending uponthe embodiment and the processing power utilized by the entity.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 200 forproviding a consumption rate change report, according to an embodiment.

Referring to Step 210, the media consumption history is received for aplurality of entities and stored in data repository 126. For example,information such as the media consumption history of media content overa network can be collected for entities using a direct measurementsystem 124, which can be internal to or external to the system 100. Insome cases, the context of networked media content consumption events,such as the quality of the consumption event, can be part of the mediaconsumption history.

In other examples, the media consumption history of media content over anetwork can be collected using other tools instead of or in conjunctionwith a direct measurement system. For example, in some cases, a mediaconsumption history can be partially or wholly received from an externalsystem such as an external database.

Information can be stored per entity. For example, identifiers such ascookies and/or unique identifiers such as locally unique identifiersand/or globally unique identifiers can be used to identify an entity. Insome cases, an identifier can be composed and/or stored on a hardwaredevice physically associated with the tracked entity, such as a cellphone or personal computer. In some cases, an identifier can be,partially or wholly, composed and/or stored on a hardware device remotefrom the tracked entity, such as direct measurement system 124 and/orexternal database 140. In some cases, attribute values can be collectedfrom registration forms and/or cross-referenced from other sources. Forexample, information such as an offline purchase history can be storedin an external database 140.

In Step 220, the consumption histories are analyzed by the generatormodule 110 to identify selected media content for reporting based onchanges in a consumption rate of the media content between at least twotime intervals. In an example, a watch service can be provided forspecified media content; for example, a scheduler module 108 can beconfigured to trigger the generator module 110 to detect and/orcalculate media content consumption rate changes for specified mediacontent. In an example, a watch service can be provided for a subset ofthe entities in the audience of the selected media content for each timeinterval; for example, a scheduler module 108 can be configured totrigger the generator module 110 to calculate media content consumptionrate changes for a subset of entities such as a subset of entitiesselected based on inferred attributes of the entities, the mediaconsumption histories of the entities and/or the similarity of theentities to a profile. In another example, the subset of entities usedto calculate the media content consumption rate changes can be receivedby the system as a list of identifiers or references which correspond toentities in the data repository 126.

In Step 230, a report based at least in part on the networked mediacontent consumption metrics is generated by the generator module 110. Insome cases, the report can comprise a list of references for the mostpopular tracked networked media content providers and/or trackednetworked media content, the newest tracked networked media contentproviders and/or tracked networked media content, the tracked networkedmedia content providers and/or tracked networked media content whichhave the most rapidly changing audience size.

In some cases, information in the report can be provided for a subset ofentities in the audience of the selected media content for each timeinterval. For example, a report could include a list of references tothe tracked networked media content providers and/or tracked networkedmedia content which are most popular for women viewing web pages viacellphone in the Seattle metropolitan area.

In Step 240, the export module 112 provides the report. In some cases,the report can be made available, provided, transmitted and/or updatedas a continuous feed, per a schedule, and/or by request. For example,the report can be provided to an external resource such as a searchengine indexing system and/or a search engine system. In anotherexample, the report can be provided to a marketing or advertisingsystem.

For example, the report can be used to identify networked media contentfor indexing and/or re-indexing by a search engine system. In somecases, the trends of interest can be used to identify media contentwhich is of little or no interest such as dead or un-used web pages. Forexample, this can be used by a search engine system to exclude somesearch engine results. For example, a dead, broken or un-used web pagemight be identified by monitoring the data in the data repository fortrends such as, but not limited to: media content and/or networked mediacontent providers which have not been accessed for one year, which couldbe described as “a current content consumption rate of zero, and achange in consumption rate of zero over the past year.”

In another example, a search engine can use the report to adjust pagerank. For example, reports showing changes in popularity by day, week ormonth can be used to make page rank adjustments for largely staticnetworked media content. Similarly, reports showing changes inpopularity by second, minute and/or hour can be used to quickly boostthe rank associated with networked media content such as urgent newsstories.

In some cases, information can be obtained, collected, inferred and/orcalculated from information stored in external data repositories such asexternal database 140. For example, an external data repository cancomprise a loyalty card database tracking offline purchases. Examples ofinformation obtained from external data repositories can include, butare not limited to, off-network purchase history, history ofnon-networked media content consumption such as broadcast televisionviewing history and/or broadcast satellite television viewing history. Avariety of techniques can be used to cross-reference the information inthe external data repositories to the tracked entities withoutmaintaining sensitive information inside the current invention, such asblindfolded record linkage.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 400 forproviding a consumption rate change report for a monitored audience,according to an embodiment.

Referring to Step 410, the networked media content consumption historyis received for a plurality of entities and stored in data repository126.

Referring to Step 420, at least one media consumption criteria isidentified. A media consumption criteria can be used to focus on asubset of entities which are interesting based on their mediaconsumption history. For example, a marketer may be interested inreaching a target audience comprising a set of entities which havecompleted a registration form, but which have not completed a purchase.By specifying these two media consumption criteria, and looking formedia content with a rapid change in consumption rate, the marketer maybe able to identify media content which is rapidly growing in popularitywith their target audience of entities.

Referring to Step 430, a monitored audience is selected from the datarepository by selecting entities with a media consumption history whichsatisfied the media consumption criteria.

Referring to Step 440, the media consumption histories are analyzed atthe reporting system 100 to identify selected media content forreporting based at least in part on the changes in consumption rate forthe monitored audience.

Referring to Step 450, a report is generated by the generator module110.

Referring to Step 460, the report is provided by the export module 112.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 500 forproviding a consumption rate change report for a monitored audiencewhich is similar to an archetypical audience, according to anembodiment.

Referring to Step 510, the networked media content consumption historyis received for a plurality of entities and stored in data repository126.

Referring to Step 520, at least one media consumption criterion isidentified.

Referring to Step 530, an archetypical audience is selected from thedata repository by selecting entities with a media consumption historywhich satisfies the media consumption criteria.

Referring to Step 540, a monitored audience of entities is selected fromthe data repository based on their similarity to the archetypicalaudience. In an example, a behavioral model can be created using thearchetypical audience as a positive training set, and the behavioralmodel can be applied to entities from the data repository to select themonitored audience of entities.

Referring to Step 550, the media consumption histories are analyzed atthe reporting system 100 to identify selected media content forreporting based at least in part on the changes in consumption rate forthe monitored audience.

Referring to Step 550, a report is generated by the generator module110.

Referring to Step 560, the report is provided by the export module 112.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 600 forsearch-engine indexing, according to an embodiment.

Referring to Step 610, a networked media content consumption rate changereport is received at a search engine indexing system. In an example, aconsumption rate change report can specify a list of references to mediacontent which as experienced large consumption rate changes. In anotherexample, a consumption rate change report can specify a list ofreferences to media content along with the changes in consumptionbetween at least two time intervals. In some cases, the consumption ratechange can be represented as a change in the total number of consumptionevents per unit of time, a change in the average number of consumptionevents per unit of time (or per time interval), or the percentage changein the number of consumption events per unit of time (or per timeinterval). In some cases, rate ranges can be reported, as in “thepercentage change in the number of consumption events/minute increasedby 20-30%.”

Referring to Step 620, media content is indexed for a search enginesystem based at least in part on the report. In some cases, the searchengine system may re-index based on the report. However, in otherexamples, the results of the report can be used to make alterations tothe rank of media content characterized in the report, withoutinitiating a complete re-indexing process.

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a hardware environment forimplementing the present invention includes a computer 100. However, itis understood that in other examples, a hardware environment forimplementing the present invention can comprise a computing cluster, amultiplicity of computers and/or computing devices which can bepersistently and/or intermittently networked via one or more wiredand/or wireless networks.

The order of the steps in the foregoing described methods of theinvention are not intended to limit the invention; the steps may berearranged.

Foregoing described embodiments of the invention are provided asillustrations and descriptions. They are not intended to limit theinvention to precise form described. In particular, it is contemplatedthat functional implementation of invention described herein may beimplemented equivalently in hardware, software, firmware, and/or otheravailable functional components or building blocks, and that networksmay be wired, wireless, or a combination of wired and wireless. Othervariations and embodiments are possible in light of above teachings, andit is thus intended that the scope of invention not be limited by thisDetailed Description, but rather by Claims following.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of reporting on ameasured change in a consumption rate at a reporting system, thecomputer-implemented method comprising: receiving a respective mediaconsumption history of each of a plurality of entities; selecting amonitored audience from the plurality of entities by selecting entitieswhich have been exposed to an item of advertising content; determining acategory value for each of two or more categories of media contentwherein: one category of media content comprises one or more items ofmedia content; one category value represents the measured change inconsumption rate for one category of media content for the monitoredaudience between at least two time intervals; and one consumption rateis determined based on the number of times each item of media content inthe one category has been delivered over a network during one timeinterval, at the reporting system; and providing a report comprising areference to two or more categories and their associated categoryvalues.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein: the measured change inconsumption rate excludes duplicate deliveries of the item of mediacontent to the same entity.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein: selectingfurther comprises selecting a subset of the entities with a mediaconsumption history which satisfies one or more media consumptioncriteria.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein: selecting a monitoredaudience further comprises selecting entities based on inferredattributes of the entities.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein: the mediacontent is a web page.
 6. A system comprising: a processor; a computerreadable storage medium storing processor-executable computer programinstructions for reporting on a measured change in a consumption rate ata reporting system, the instructions comprising instructions for:receiving a respective media consumption history of each of a pluralityof entities; selecting a monitored audience from the plurality ofentities by selecting entities which have been exposed to an item ofadvertising content; determining a category value for each of two ormore categories of media content wherein: one category of media contentcomprises one or more items of media content; one category valuerepresents the measured change in consumption rate for one category ofmedia content for the monitored audience between at least two timeintervals; and one consumption rate is determined based on the number oftimes each item of media content in the one category has been deliveredover a network during one time interval, at the reporting system; andproviding a report comprising a reference to two or more categories andtheir associated category values.
 7. The system of claim 6 wherein: themeasured change in consumption rate excludes duplicate deliveries of theitem of media content to the same entity.
 8. The system of claim 6wherein: selecting further comprises selecting a subset of the entitieswith a media consumption history which satisfies one or more mediaconsumption criteria.
 9. The system of claim 6 wherein: selecting amonitored audience further comprises selecting entities based oninferred attributes of the entities.
 10. The system of claim 6 wherein:selecting a monitored audience further comprises selecting entitiesbased on the media consumption histories of the entities.
 11. The systemof claim 6 wherein: the media content is a web page.
 12. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium executing computerprogram instructions for reporting on measured changes in a consumptionrate at a reporting system, the computer program instructions comprisinginstructions for: receiving a respective media consumption history ofeach of a plurality of entities; selecting a monitored audience from theplurality of entities by selecting entities which have been exposed toan item of advertising content; determining a category value for each oftwo or more categories of media content wherein: one category of mediacontent comprises one or more items of media content; one category valuerepresents the measured change in consumption rate for one category ofmedia content for the monitored audience between at least two timeintervals; and one consumption rate is determined based on the number oftimes each item of media content in the one category has been deliveredover a network during one time interval, at the reporting system; andproviding a report comprising a reference to two or more categories andtheir associated category values.
 13. The medium of claim 12 wherein:the measured change in consumption rate excludes duplicate deliveries ofthe item of media content to the same entity.
 14. The medium of claim 12wherein: the instructions for selecting further comprise selecting asubset of the entities with a media consumption history which satisfiesone or more media consumption criteria.
 15. The medium of claim 12wherein: the instructions for selecting a monitored audience furthercomprise selecting entities based on inferred attributes of theentities.
 16. The medium of claim 12 wherein: the instructions forselecting a monitored audience further comprise selecting entities basedon the media consumption histories of the entities.
 17. The medium ofclaim 12 wherein: the media content is a web page.